Spotlight
on Volunteers
Who
Help Animals

Send us your story!

What is a volunteer?

A
volunteer is a person who offers to help others with the
work they are doing. A volunteer does not get paid. Volunteering
offers other rewards. Did you know that volunteering helps you
become a better person? When you help others, you make a difference
in their lives. You become more confident. You learn new skills.
And you make lots of new friends.

On
this page we want to shine a spotlight on kids who are working hard to
make a difference in the world by volunteering with animals. Do you help
out at an animal shelter? Do you collect canned foods for pets? Do you
pet sit? If you volunteer to help out animals in any way, we want
to hear from you. Tell us everything you do and send us photos and we'll
post it all!

Read
about these amazing volunteers!(updated
6/2/09 New photos for Jammie below!)

Abby
is compassionate eleven year old from North Carolina. She is an
entrepreneur (a person who organizes and starts a business) with lots
of ideas to help animals in need. She has set some summer goals for
herself and when her local shelter opens, she will be ready to help
them out. Read her exciting plans below.

Well,
this
summer I am starting a doggie-day-care/spa
and I might even start walking dogs!
I am donating this money to this Animal Shelter
who hasn't even built a shelter!
They can't afford it, and there are poor kittens,
puppies, dogs, and cats, who are suffering.
Last month I went to their fundraiser and they
had adoptions, food, and contests. I feel really bad for all those animals!

Ten
year old Amara is
a tireless volunteer from Maine who does all kinds of things for
animals. She has teamed together with her friends to help raise money
for homeless animals. While she's raising money, she's also helping
out her neighbors. This is one creative individual!
Read all about her activities below.

My
friends and I have started a fundraiser for local animal shelters.
We make unique crafts and sell them. We work at a lemonade/treat
stand in the summer and a hot cocoa/treat stand in the winter. We
help others by doing some work for them such as shoveling their driveway
or walking their dogs. I am going to start a doggie spa in the summer
to make some extra money. We each have a role in this process. I
use the internet for ideas and help. My friend, Brianna, does the
craft stuff and my friend, Abigail, does most of the work. We all
use the phone and mail to contact each other and sometimes we meet
up to do stuff together. We have thousands of ideas and are going
to make the animals in all our local shelters really happy!

Avani is
a hardworking ten year old from Colorado. She does all kinds of ambitious
activities at the Humane Society in her town. Most humane societies run
on donated money and they always need volunteers to help them take
care of the animals that are there. All of the animals at the Humane
Society are waiting for new homes. Being a volunteer is something kids
and adults can do to help the dogs and families in their neighborhoods.

I
work with the dogs at the Humane Society of Boulder Valley. We
walk them, do pet laundry, clean poo or pee, feed them, wash pet
dishes, give them toys, give them blankets, and just make sure
they don't cry.

Let
me give you a close up to a few of these things. This is the way
a walk at the humane society works. First you have to look at the
kennel sheet which tells you how many times a dog has been walked.
Each dog needs three walks. Then, you have to get a leash the right
size and get a sign that says 'I'm a lucky dog, I'm on a walk'
so that if someone wants to adopt that dog they know where it is.
Then you put the sign on the kennel and put the leash on the dog
and that's the whole process to walk a dog!

Now
I'm going to tell you how you do pet laundry. In the laundry room
there are pet beds, towels, rags, and more.There is a HUGE bucket
where all the laundry goes. On the laundry there is poo, pee,
and blood (from surgeries). To do laundry, you have to put on gloves.
You
take some laundry out of the bucket. You put it in the washer and let
it wash. Then you put it in the dryer and let it dry. Then you take
it out of the dryer and fold it up and put it on the shelf.

I
hope everyone will decide to volunteer at their local humane society
because you can have fun and you can help homeless animals. They're
so cute!

Lauren,
age thirteen, is a generous volunteer who works with dogs at the SPCA (Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). This organization works to
find ways of preventing cruelty to animals all over
the United States. Lauren also gives a very special gift that helps with
all the projects that the SPCA does.

I
volunteer at the SPCA and I give $200 a year and I also walk the
dogs. Sometimes we even foster a dog. I take care of the dogs and
it is really fun.
If you can't adopt, foster! It is an awesome way to help.

Thirteen
year old Jessica is learning lots of great things at a veterinary office
and at the same time does a wonderful service by volunteering to help
out. She must have lots of energy to do such good work after a long
day at school!

My
mom, Mechele, works in a veterinarian office and after I go to school,
I go to help her and I have helped a many of dog ... I cannot count
how many.

Fourteen
year old Courtney is a very enthusiastic volunteer from California.
She helps out a local store with their pet adoptions. It gives her
a good sense of accomplishment when she matches a dog to their new
owner. She also has a very special plan for her life - read below to
find out what that is!

I
help out at Petsmart Monday through Friday from 2:30 pm - 6:00
pm. Whenever they have pet adoptions, I always love to find these
animals the perfect owners. One time, I was able to give twelve
loving animals a new home. It made me so happy. When I turn sixteen
in two more years I'm planning on beginning to complete all of
my biology classes so I can study to become a veterinarian.

Jamie
is a remarkable eleven year old from Illinois. She does a very
important service in her neighborhood. Older people, like all people,
enjoy having pets. But often it's difficult to care for their animals.
So Jamie offers to help them take care of their pets. In that way,
Jamie also is taking care of her neighbors. She allows them to keep
their pets longer than they might have. And, the pets get to stay with
with people they love.

I
go to old people's houses after I get home from school and I
help them take care of their animals. I take the dogs for walks,
I give them baths, and I also do anything like feeding. One
house that I go to, she cannot get out of her bed so I bring
the dog to her and it's a very little dog.

Emily
is a hard-working fifteen year old. She volunteers
with a cat rescue group doing the most important job there is - fostering
and socializing the cats who are homeless. Animals live in foster
homes while they're waiting for their forever homes.
While these cats and kittens are living with Emily, she helps socialize
them. Both cats and dogs need socializing so they can be good companions
to their new owners and good citizens in the community. Emily talks
about the things she does to help socialize the rescued cats and kittens.

I
help get kittens and cats ready to be adopted by fostering them.
Sometimes they're mean, sometimes they're sweet, little, messy,
or sick. They all just need good homes and help! I help with getting
them ready to be around children and people, desensitize them to
everyday sights and sounds (laundry machines, dishwashers, pots
and pans, people walking near them, and so much more!) You'd think
a cat would be used to these things, but sometimes they're not.
A lot of cats come from Animal Control, others are dumped, and
still others are just dropped off with the rescue.
No matter how they get here, it is my job to socialize and prepare the ones that
I am given before they are adopted out.

Catrina
is a remarkable fifteen year old. She did not
say where she lives, but the pet store in her neighborhood is lucky
to have her as a volunteer. Volunteering
isn't always easy. It's a commitment to get up, dressed, and out the
door to help someone else out. Catrina helps not only
the animals, but the employees at this store.

I
go to the pet store to do stuff like clean out the cages, feed
them (the animals), give them fresh water, and I get to play with
them. I take them out and bring them into a fenced in big cage.
I check them to make sure they don't have fleas or any sickness.
My dog comes sometimes. He is a German Shepherd.

Patricia
is an energetic fourteen year old volunteer who
lives in California in the USA. Her volunteer work takes her to PetSmart,
a store that sells pet supplies. PetSmart also helps the community
by bringing in dogs that do not have homes. They advertise to the public
and hope that people come see them and take one home. These dogs are
usually in a pen or a cage. Patricia has found a way to be sure that
these sweet animals find homes.

I help
out the dogs at PetSmart. I help them get adopted by teaching them
tricks and making them look more adoptive. I take them out of their
cage and walk them around so people could see what good dogs they
actually are because in the cage they're really barky and people
don't adopt as much so taking them out helps.

Our
next amazing volunteer is Taylor. Eleven
year old Taylor lives in New York in the United States of America.
You might say that she is an entrepreneur (a person with great ideas).
She goes to her neighbors and offers her services as a dog walker.
A dog walker needs to be physically fit and healthy to walk many dogs
all over her neighborhood. She also needs to be good with dogs and
friendly to people she meets along the way. A dog walker also needs
to know how to work with the different sizes and personalities of the
dogs she walks.

I
volunteered to walk dogs in my town.

I
walk three dogs. Jenny, Lucky, and Star. Star is the most active.
Lucky is the easiest to walk, and Jenny is the most difficult
to walk because she doesn't want to go anywhere, and she is very
little. The way I walk active dogs is I give them something that
will occupy them, like a toy that they can hold in their mouth
(usually it works) ~Ha! ha! Sometimes I bring treats with me
to give to the dogs. My
favorite dog to walk was my neighbor's dog, Jenny. I haven't
walked Jenny anymore because she is getting kind of old, but
I still have many other dogs to walk.

When
I meet a new dog, I usually pet it for awhile so they will get
used to me. Then I see how they do on the leash. If they do good,
I take them for longer walks than normal walks with new dogs.
If they do poorly, I usually take them up and down the road 20
feet each way.

Our
first special volunteer is Jammie. Jammie is fifteen years old and
lives in Michigan in the United States.
Her volunteer job is working at a doggie daycare
near her home. Doggie daycares are very popular.
People
like to take their dogs to these places and leave them there while
they work or take care of other responsibilities. Usually the dogs
at the daycare get to play together. A dog who would normally be
home alone now has lots of friends.
Here is what Jammie does at her
volunteer job, in her own words:

For
my volunteer job, I work at a doggie day care. I get to work at 2:30
and work until 6:00. Some nights I help with the obedience classes,
then I work until 7:30. It's so much fun!!! We write up little report
cards to tell the owners what other dogs they played with and what
their favorite games are. It's very interesting to watch the dogs work
things out on their own, playing together like old friends!!!

Send
us your photo (jpg or gif) or video and tell us all about
your volunteer
work and we'll post it on this page.
Tell others about the good
work you are doing and please be detailed about
the work you do. Fill out the form below.

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is your first name?(Please do not write your last name.)

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is your email address? This is required!We
need your email address if you are under the age of 13
or if you plan
on adding a photo to your story.